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Old 08-15-2009, 01:27 AM   #1
Grewlybreekly

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Default Clinton urges no Megrahi release
Clinton urges no Megrahi release
From BBC

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has personally urged Scotland's justice secretary not to free the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing.

A spokesman said she "expressed strongly" the view to Kenny MacAskill that Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi should serve out his sentence in Scotland.

Earlier it was confirmed the Libyan had applied to abandon his appeal against his conviction.

Terminally-ill Megrahi is serving a life sentence at Greenock Prison.

On Wednesday BBC News revealed that Kenny MacAskill was likely to announce next week that Megrahi, who is gravely ill with prostate cancer, would be released on compassionate grounds.

US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said there were "compelling reasons" why Megrahi should remain in jail.

He said: "Our interest is justice, and our interest is the commitment that we made to the families that we would find the perpetrator of this terrorism act, bring him to justice, working with the United Kingdom and with Scotland.

There are a number of vested interests who have been deeply opposed to this appeal continuing as they know it would go a considerable way towards exposing the truth behind Lockerbie
Christine Grahame MSP

"He was brought to trial. He had a fair trial. He was convicted. He's serving his time. And we think he should stay in jail."

Mr MacAskill is also considering a request from the Libyan government for Megrahi to be returned to Libya under a prisoner transfer deal with Britain.

Abandoning his appeal could pave the way for his return home because a transfer cannot take place if criminal proceedings are active.

'No pressure'

The Scottish government said no decision had yet been taken on Megrahi's future and insisted no pressure had been put on him to abandon his appeal.

But South of Scotland SNP MSP Christine Grahame, who has met Megrahi several times in prison, said she believed he had been put under pressure.

The Scottish legal system might well welcome closure of this protracted, challenging case.

The counter point of view, advanced by Nationalist MSP Christine Grahame among others, is that Scottish justice is better served by persisting in efforts to dig out the truth.

Then there is the issue of compassion. Megrahi is said to be terminally ill with prostate cancer. Regardless of other issues, should the justice secretary pay heed to that?

Either way, relatives of those who died are decidedly not content.

There are those who believe that Megrahi is guilty and who say there should be no deal whatsoever: he should remain in jail in Scotland.

Those who believe he is innocent - and consequently welcome his release - nevertheless are voicing distress that the emerging shape of events means that the search for further information will be stalled.
'An amazing coincidence'

She said: "I know from the lengthy discussions I had with him that he was desperate to clear his name, so I believe that the decision is not entirely his own.

"There are a number of vested interests who have been deeply opposed to this appeal continuing as they know it would go a considerable way towards exposing the truth behind Lockerbie.

"Some serious scrutiny will be required to determine exactly why Mr Megrahi is now dropping his appeal and examination of what pressure he has come under."

She renewed her calls for a full public inquiry into the bombing.

She added: "In the next days, weeks and months new information will be placed in the public domain that will make it clear that Mr Megrahi had nothing to do with the bombing of Pan Am 103."

Megrahi is the only person to be convicted over the 1988 bombing which claimed 270 lives.

His lawyers said he had applied to the High Court in Edinburgh two days ago to abandon his appeal against conviction.

A spokesman for the legal firm Taylor and Kelly said: "As the appeal hearing has commenced... leave of the court is required before the appeal can be formally abandoned."

A court hearing to discuss the application will take place in Edinburgh next Tuesday.

'Cloak and dagger'

Conservative justice spokesman Bill Aitken said clarity was needed from the Scottish Government.

"Too much of this story has been characterised by secret briefings, hints of special deals and international cloak and dagger," he said.

"The Lockerbie atrocity cannot descend into this kind of diplomacy by spin and stealth."

He said there needed to be "compelling medical evidence of extreme ill health" before any release on compassionate grounds.

Nothing that the Scottish Government has done or said suggests pressure on anybody to do anything
First Minister Alex Salmond

First Minister Alex Salmond said the Scottish Government denied any pressure had been placed on the Libyan to drop his second appeal.

Speaking in Edinburgh before Megrahi's application to drop his appeal was announced, he said: "We have no interest in pressurising people to drop appeals, why on earth should we?

"That's not our position - never has been."

He added: "Nothing that the Scottish Government has done or said suggests pressure on anybody to do anything."

He also said the issue would not be discussed at cabinet on Tuesday, saying it was a judicial matter, not a political one.

"This is a matter the justice secretary must determine and he must do it purely on judicial grounds, which is what he's been doing," he said.

Sentence appeal

Megrahi was convicted of murder in January 2001 at a trial held under Scottish law in the Netherlands.

A first appeal against that verdict was rejected the following year.

His second appeal got under way this year but shortly afterwards applications were made for both his transfer to a Libyan jail and release on compassionate grounds.

Separately, the Crown Office is appealing against the length of the sentence handed out to Megrahi.

A Crown Office spokesman said that its appeal remained live.

The spokesman would not be drawn on whether that appeal would be dropped alongside Megrahi's appeal against conviction.
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Old 08-20-2009, 10:42 PM   #2
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Lockerbie bomber arrives in Libya

The Libyan man jailed in Scotland for blowing up a US airliner over Lockerbie in 1988, has arrived back in Libya after being set free.

The Scottish government released Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, who is 57 and has terminal cancer, on compassionate grounds.

US President Barack Obama said the move was "a mistake", and some relatives of US victims reacted angrily.

Most of the 270 people who died in the bombing were Americans.

In a radio interview, Mr Obama said: "We have been in contact with the Scottish government, indicating that we objected to this. We thought it was a mistake."


Lockerbie scene

'A convenient scapegoat?'

Grounds for compassionate release

'No prospect of recovery'

He added that his administration had told the Libyan government that Megrahi should not receive a hero's welcome and should be placed under house arrest.

The BBC's Rana Jawad in Tripoli says that although the Libyan authorities have so far not commented on the release, they will regard it as a diplomatic triumph.

Earlier on Thursday, police took Megrahi from Scotland's Greenock Prison to Glasgow Airport to board an Airbus plane which landed in Tripoli at 1830 GMT.

The Scottish government said it had consulted widely before Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill made his decision on applications for Megrahi's compassionate release or his transfer to a Libyan jail.

Compassion

Mr MacAskill told a news conference that he had rejected the application for a prisoner transfer.

However, after taking medical advice it was expected that three months was a "reasonable estimate" of the time Megrahi had left to live.

Well before the Scottish justice minister had announced his decision, Col Muammar Gaddafi's private jet was on its way to Glasgow.

Until now, Libyan officials have been careful not to comment in case they jeopardised the release, wary of this last-minute intervention by the US.

Officially there are unlikely to be any triumphant statements here, but given the personal involvement of Mr Gaddafi it will no doubt be seen as further evidence of his growing stature on the international stage.

It is rumoured that he has asked to see Megrahi when he returns, and the timing is perfect. In 12 days' time, Libya celebrates the 40th anniversary of the revolution that brought Mr Gaddafi to power.

"Mr al-Megrahi did not show his victims any comfort or compassion. They were not allowed to return to the bosom of their families to see out their lives, let alone their dying days," he said.

"But that alone is not a reason for us to deny compassion to him and his family in his final days."

Mr MacAskill continued: "Our justice system demands that judgement be imposed, but compassion be available.

"For these reasons and these reasons alone, it is my decision that Mr Mr Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi, convicted in 2001 for the Lockerbie bombing, now terminally ill with prostate cancer, be released on compassionate grounds and be allowed to return to Libya to die."

In a statement released after his departure from HMP Greenock, Megrahi continued to protest his innocence.

He said: "The remaining days of my life are being lived under the shadow of the wrongness of my conviction.

"I have been faced with an appalling choice: to risk dying in prison in the hope that my name is cleared posthumously or to return home still carrying the weight of the guilty verdict, which will never now be lifted.

"The choice which I made is a matter of sorrow, disappointment and anger, which I fear I will never overcome."

'No remorse'

The families of American victims of the Lockerbie bombing reacted angrily to the news.

Kara Weipz, of Mt Laurel, New Jersey, who lost her brother Richard Monetti, said: "It is an utter insult and utterly disgusting... I don't show compassion for someone who showed no remorse."

New York state resident Paul Halsch, whose 31-year-old wife was killed, said of Mr MacAskill's decision: "This might sound crude or blunt, but I want him returned from Scotland the same way my wife Lorraine was and that would be in a box."

However, British relatives' spokesman Dr Jim Swire, who lost his daughter Flora in the atrocity, reiterated his view that Megrahi had "nothing to do with" the bombing.

"I don't believe for a moment that this man was involved in the way that he was found to have been involved," he said.

Megrahi was convicted of murder in January 2001 at a trial held under Scottish law in the Netherlands.
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Old 08-20-2009, 10:47 PM   #3
Nigeopire

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I don't feel strongly either way on this. I don't know the specifics of the case so I can't have on opinion on whether he is guilty or not. As for his release it is normal for a prisoner to be released if they only have a short time left to live. The recent Ronnie Biggs case being a recent example.

What I do feel strongly about however is this:

'We have been in contact with the Scottish government, indicating that we objected to this. We thought it was a mistake.'

'He added that his administration had told the Libyan government that Megrahi should not receive a hero's welcome and should be placed under house arrest.'

Why does America feel it can dictate to everyone how they should act? I understand most of the victims were American but the man was convicted under Scottish law and he will be treated the same as every other criminal. No one has the right to demand otherwise.

As for how Libya should act that is up to them also.
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Old 08-21-2009, 12:49 AM   #4
xyznicks

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"No one has the right to demand otherwise"

You've just nullified the basis of much diplomacy. Countries do it all the time. They trade with each other based upon what is in their best interest. Just as, in this case, certain parties are very possibly taking actions based not solely upon compassion & humane interests but upon oil & business interests.
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Old 08-21-2009, 01:06 AM   #5
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His release isn't unusual considering this happened a couple of weeks ago, otherwise I'd be more suspicious.

I don't think good diplomacy includes telling people what they should do concerning criminals convicted under their own laws. And in the case of Libya what they should do with a free citizen. This isn't about trade its a legal/ criminal issue.
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Old 08-21-2009, 07:21 AM   #6
Phoneemer

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When I think of the horror/terror and physical pain that the screaming passengers felt as they fell from the sky to their deaths, I can only wish that the low-life who set that event in motion stayed in jail. Better still, he should have been strapped into a obsolete older-series 747 and blown up remotely in midair.
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Old 08-21-2009, 07:55 AM   #7
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His release isn't unusual considering this happened a couple of weeks ago, otherwise I'd be more suspicious.
That guy /\ stole a lot of money, beat up a guy and then escaped from prison and went on the lam -- hardly the equivalent of murdering nearly 300 people in cold blood.

Biggs, from Lambeth, south London, was a member of a 15-strong gang which attacked the Glasgow to London mail train at Ledburn, Buckinghamshire, in August 1963, and made off with £2.6m in used banknotes.

The train's driver Jack Mills suffered head injuries during the robbery.
Biggs was given a 30-year sentence, but after 15 months he escaped from Wandsworth prison in south west London by climbing a 30ft wall and fleeing in a furniture van.

He was on the run for more than 30 years, living in Australia and Brazil, before returning to the UK voluntarily in 2001 in search of medical treatment.

He was sent to Belmarsh high-security prison on his return before being moved to a specialist medical unit at Norwich prison. Don't you think that the UK / Scottish authorities would put in their two cents if somebody blew up a busload of Scottish tourists in Wyoming and was tried and held but then released by the US Government?
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Old 08-21-2009, 12:28 PM   #8
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It would depend on the circumstances of their release. There is a big difference between someone simply being released and being released because they are going to die very soon. In the Lockerbie instance the reason for his release is not unusual. I believe it is policy to release a prisoner when they have only 3 months to live and this doesn't change with the magnitude of the crime.
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Old 08-21-2009, 01:21 PM   #9
GogaMegaPis

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to all our friends in the u.s.a i would like to say to you all that us folk in the uk are so so sorry for letting that bomber free im sure you understand it was not us that decided it was our government over the years we have stood side by side with you and i hope that you will always do so we thank you roy
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Old 08-21-2009, 04:04 PM   #10
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Royal visit to Libya reconsidered

A crowd gathered to welcome Megrahi home to Libya

A royal visit to Libya is being reconsidered after the welcome given to the Lockerbie bomber on his return to the country, the BBC understands.

The Foreign Office is reviewing plans for Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, to meet senior figures and promote trade.

The visit - planned for early September - now seems unlikely to go ahead.

It also emerged that the prime minister had written to Colonel Gaddafi asking that Libya "act with sensitivity" when Megrahi returned home.

Downing Street said Gordon Brown had sent the letter on Thursday, ahead of the bomber's release from prison.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband has described the celebratory welcome in Libya for Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi as "deeply distressing".

BBC Diplomatic Correspondent James Robbins said he understood the royal visit - which had not yet been made public - was now unlikely to proceed.

"It would be the Duke of York's third visit to Libya," he said.

"Last year he met Colonel Gaddafi and previously he has met a series of senior Libyan ministers in his role as Britain's special representative for trade and investment.

Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond said that the decision had been made "for the right reasons"

"Britain has secured huge contracts with Libya, particularly in the energy sector, in recent years as the country has returned from deep international isolation."

The foreign secretary has said he deplored the welcome Megrahi received in Tripoli on Thursday.

But Mr Miliband refused to comment on whether he believed the Scottish Government was right to free him.

Crowds in Tripoli, some waving Saltires, greeted Megrahi after he was freed on compassionate grounds.

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond said the reception was "inappropriate".

The welcome Megrahi received on his return to Libya also prompted an angry reaction from families of those killed in the 1988 bombing, which brought down Pan Am flight 103 over the town of Lockerbie, in southern Scotland.

'Deeply distressing'

US President Barack Obama described the Scottish Government's decision to free Megrahi as a "mistake" and said his administration had told the Libyan government that Megrahi, who has terminal cancer, should not receive a hero's welcome and should instead be placed under house arrest.

Mr Miliband, the first UK minister to comment on Megrahi's release, said the scenes in Tripoli were deeply distressing.

He added: "Obviously the sight of a mass murderer getting a hero's welcome in Tripoli is deeply upsetting, and deeply upsetting above all for the 270 families who grieve every day for the loss of their loved ones 21 years ago, but also for anyone who's got an ounce of humanity in them and I think that is the overriding emotion that people will be feeling today.

Megrahi is welcomed at airport in Tripoli
Saltires were waved by some of those waiting at the airport

"I think it is very important that Libya knows, and certainly we have told them, that how the Libyan government handles itself in the next few days after the arrival of Mr Megrahi will be very significant in the way the world views Libya's re-entry into the civilised community of nations."

He said there had been no pressure from Westminster on the Scottish Government to release Megrahi.

Mr Salmond said the welcome received by Megrahi was "unwise".

He said: "I don't think the reception for Mr al-Megrahi was appropriate in Libya. I don't think that was wise and I don't think that was the right thing to do."

He said he supported Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill's decision to release Megrahi on compassionate grounds, and denied it had damaged Scotland's relationship with the United States.

He said: "The international politics of the situation are not, correctly in my view, a matter for the justice secretary.

"We're not responsible for the actions of others and I don't agree that we've damaged Scotland's reputation."

The Scottish Parliament is to be recalled on Monday to discuss the controversial decision to release Megrahi.


Alex Salmond's government has made a mistake of international proportions
David Mundell
Conservative MP

Russell Brown, Labour MP for Dumfries, said seeing the Saltire at Tripoli airport was "stomach churning" and condemned the Scottish Government for failing to seek adequate assurances that the Lockerbie bomber would not be hailed a hero on his return to Libya.

He said: "I have never been ashamed to see my country's flag waved before, but to see it misused to celebrate mass murder is outrageous.

"This man is convicted of murdering 270 people in my part of Scotland and that conviction stands.

"This adds further pressure to the SNP to explain why they have freed a man who showed no remorse for the crimes he has committed."

David Mundell, Conservative MP for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, said the scenes from Tripoli were "sickening".

He said: "This is as we feared and why we said that Mr Megrahi should be kept in Scotland.

"Alex Salmond's government has made a mistake of international proportions."

Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill announced the release order on Thursday afternoon, saying Megrahi probably had about three months to live.

The fact that Megrahi's victims were shown no compassion was "not a reason for us to deny compassion to him and his family in his final days", he said.

Tony Kelly, a solicitor acting on behalf of Megrahi, said his client was still interested in clearing his name in the "court of public opinion."

He said: "In the statement I issued on his behalf yesterday he talked about the appalling choice he had to make.

"He had to say whether he was going to stay here and die in prison with a view to trying to clear his name posthumously, or to abandon the appeal with a view to get himself home so he could go back to the bosom of his family."
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Old 08-21-2009, 05:59 PM   #11
russianstallian

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Note to Prince Andrew: Not sure the photo op is worth it, you might be wise to send a lackey in your place. The meet up could have a similar repercussions as those caused by the coziness between a great-great uncle of yours and another unpopular leader, way back in the day.
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Old 08-23-2009, 06:09 PM   #12
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As a proud Scot, I am totally shocked amd disgusted at the release of Megrahi. What an insult to the families of those who lost their lives over and in Lockerbie. What an insult to the troops, who are fighting terrorism in the middle east.

I hope that our American cousins can see this for what it is: Just another utter screw up by an incompetent British government.

Please, please do not hold this against the Scottish people by cutting back in tourism to Scotland. We are as disgusted as you are over this fiasco.
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Old 08-23-2009, 06:11 PM   #13
Enrobrorb

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This was completely the Scottish governments decision, as both sides love to point out.
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Old 08-23-2009, 09:09 PM   #14
sadgpokx

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I'm somewhat dense on the machinations of Great Britain.

That would be the free and independent Scotland, subject to the will of no one else, yes?
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Old 08-23-2009, 09:14 PM   #15
Lhtfajba

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Lofter, maybe I'm reading your tone or humour wrong but can the sarcasm if that is what you were aiming for.

No, Scotland is not independent. However justice is a completely devolved power and is completely under the power of the Scottish parliament. Ergo the UK government had no part in this decision according to people on both sides.
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Old 08-23-2009, 09:40 PM   #16
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Sorry, must have missed the WNY Rule outlawing sarcasm.
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Old 08-23-2009, 09:41 PM   #17
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There is no rule. Its helps the discussion if you are mature in your responses. It also helps to be accurate if you are trying to act smart.
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Old 08-23-2009, 09:46 PM   #18
seperalem

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Ergo the UK government had no part in this decision according to people on both sides.
Drudge has broken the story - this is on the front page of Drudge right now - Brown may have had more to do with it than is being led on. But I don't really care.

F*CK SCOTLAND.

There - hows that for a hot cup of haggis.
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Old 08-23-2009, 09:46 PM   #19
TheDoctor

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What wasn't accurate? I believe a poster before me said that this was "completely" a decision of the Scots. I was merely inquiring how that might be, given the structure of Scotland vis a vis it's alignment with Great Britain.

Like I said, I don't have full understanding as to how that works and was looking for illumination from someone who might be in the know.
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Old 08-23-2009, 09:49 PM   #20
doxinwasido

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Boycott Scotland

There are calls for it right now.

Craig Ferguson isn't funny anyway, or June Thomas. F*ck them both.
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